Zack Snyder‘s highly anticipated Man of Steel sequel Batman Vs. Superman (as it is currently known) has just signed 300: Rise of an Empire‘s Callan Mulvey, Tao Okamoto of The Wolverine, and Oscar-winner Holly Hunter–best known for Raising Arizona, O Brother Where Art Thou?, and as the voice of The Incredibles‘ Elastigirl.

For further details, you know what to do.

The announcement was made earlier today by Greg Silverman, President, Creative Development and Worldwide Production, and Sue Kroll, President, Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution, of Warner Bros. Pictures. These 3 actors will apparently be playing original characters written specifically for the film.

Snyder spoke about the new additions to his film’s cast saying:

Holly has always been one of my favorite actresses; she has immense talent and is always captivating on screen. I had an opportunity to meet her a while back and knew instantly that I had to work with her, so as we began writing the script I made sure to create a role specifically for her.

I just had the good fortune to work with Callan on ‘300: Rise of an Empire’ and was very impressed with his incredible talent. He’s a fantastic actor and I’m looking forward to having the chance to work with him again.

And, quite simply, Tao is a striking presence whose beauty is aptly rivaled by her amazing abilities as an actress. I’m really excited to have her joining us on this adventure.”

More information about these actors, and the characters they will be playing, will be made available as we receive it. I would assume Holly Hunter, being the biggest name added, will have a sizeable role–and her presence in the cast may help draw non-genre fans to the film. Mulvey’s experience working with Snyder, and Okamoto’s history with superhero flicks will likely do the movie proud.

For nerds, news like this is always mildly depressing: When we hear about new additions to the cast of a film like this, we want to hear about how the filmmakers are going to interpret characters we have come to know and love…Hell, we’d prefer news some of us can get indignant over–like the casting of Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor–to news we have no real opinion about whatsoever. I can find a million different ways to say how awesome these 3 performers are, but without knowing anything about who they are playing, it’s tough to get excited.

We need to remember that a movie like this is never simply about bringing classic characters to life in a new and different way–it’s ALSO about adding said characters to a completely original fictional universe, and that universe needs to be populated by equally original characters.

Such characters can make or break a comic book film. We shouldn’t ignore such news just because these actors won’t be playing characters we already know. Heck, with any luck, Holly Hunter could end up becoming DC‘s answer to Agent Coulson 🙂

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